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I'm starting a cookie business and wanted to know if i can…

Customer Question

Hi I'm starting a...

Hi I'm starting a cookie business and wanted to know if i can use celebrity and cartoon characters as part of my cookie sets ill provide for sale. My question is more along the lines of if I do make this available how can i make this happen without getting sued, where can i find out if i can use their brand to make cookies available for sale using a celebrity also thanks

Lawyer's Assistant: Because laws vary from place to place, can you tell me what state this is in?

California

Lawyer's Assistant: Has anything been filed or reported?

No Im just getting started

Lawyer's Assistant: Anything else you want the lawyer to know before I connect you?

Thank you for your patience and thank you for using Just Answer. I want to provide you the best service I can. Please feel free to ask any follow-up questions you have.

I am an attorney with 30 years of experience; I hope to provide you information that will help you in resolving your question.

This is a difficult question. It isn't that the answer is unclear. It is that the solution is difficult.

The easy part first. You can not legally use another party's copyright or trademark without permission. If you do and you get sued the costs can be significant. Also there are many "copyright trolls." A copyright troll is a company that searches the internet and other media for the unauthorized use of copyrighted material and trademark material. These people act as go betweens for the owner of the intellectual property and initiate lawsuit and collection processes. These people can be a scourge.

So the quick answer is that you MUST have permission to avoid any possible trouble.

The difficulty is getting the permission because there is no one stop shopping for bakeries as there is for musicians. This means that you have to look up the licensing agent for each character and contact them for permission. The permission is usually granted but there are fees for the license.

I hope the information I provide is useful to you. I want you to be comfortable and satisfied with my attempt to assist you. Please, if you have ANY follow-up questions, feel free to ask.

If you ask a follow-up question and I do not respond immediately, it is because I am temporarily unavailable. I promise to respond as soon as I return. Please note that I am often unavailable Friday evening through Sunday.

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Good luck.

Please note: Information is educational and not given as legal advice. Only your local attorney can give legal advice. I can't establish or accept an attorney-client relationship with you. All posts are available for public viewing.

Kind regards,

Gerald

Ask Your Own Legal Question

Customer reply replied 7 months ago

well I already new all this I was wondering where exactly I can get more info or where or how I can get permission.

Essentially, once you have a contact you would write the celebrity, identify yourself and what you are doing and ask permission to use their image in a cake design. If you can show them a photographic example of your work that would be helpful.

Many will give you permission for free. Many will not respond. Those who want payment will usually send you an agreement.

You can find a sample image release form here (it would need to be modified to meet your needs:

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DISCLAIMER: Answers from Experts on JustAnswer are not substitutes for the advice of an attorney. JustAnswer is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Expert above is not your attorney, and the response above is not legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains.

The responses above are from individual Experts, not JustAnswer. The site and services are provided “as is”. To view the verified credential of an Expert, click on the “Verified” symbol in the Expert’s profile. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service (last updated February 8, 2012).

DISCLAIMER: Answers from Experts on JustAnswer are not substitutes for the advice of an attorney. JustAnswer is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Expert above is not your attorney, and the response above is not legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains.

The responses above are from individual Experts, not JustAnswer. The site and services are provided “as is”. To view the verified credential of an Expert, click on the “Verified” symbol in the Expert’s profile. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service (last updated February 8, 2012).